Of Learning and Smiling
by Dookamargirl2
Summary: Or the one where Leo is Strong, Nyssa is observant and everyone learns something about our favourite mechanic. Slight Percabeth, Frazel and Jasper/Jiper


Of Learning and Smiling

**Hey guys, I know I'm supposed to be working on Things I'll Never Say, and Annika's backstory, but you know, writers block.**

**And the tiny fact that I happened to be in Seattle for a little while, and because I was bored in the car, I wrote this, while sort of reading City of Fallen Angels, and fan-girling with my sister about the TMI movie, we saw it on Saturday and I have to say, it wasn't horrible, it was a bit confusing without much explanations for things, and spoilers for later in the books and stuff, but I still enjoyed it.**

**Anyways, here is a little something that occurred to me while reading MoA **

Nyssa was a Hephaestus girl through and through, she worked hard and created and invented things she hoped were worthy of her father's forges.

She also wasn't a people person like all her half siblings.

But Nyssa was observant.

She watched people interact and their behaviour during different moods, that way it was easier to pretend they were machines.

This time, she was watching the Seven.

The war with Gaia had just ended and the camp was recovering from being attacked by the romans, while the seven were recovering from their journey, the things they had seen and gone through was enough to last a million more lifetimes.

"Nyssa!" shouted Will Solace pulling her out of her thoughts. "Did you hear anything we just said?"

"Sorry, no," she replied sheepishly.

Will smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"You staring at your crush?" he asked.

Nyssa rolled her eyes.

"Solace, if I had as many crushes as you continue to say I do, I would've run out of people long ago," She laughed.

They all laughed and when they had finally gone quiet again, Harley spoke.

"We were talking about who we think the strongest one of the seven is."

Nyssa was taken aback, "Why would you argue about that?" she asked.

"No reason, just our opinions," smiled Harley.

"I think Percy's the strongest, I mean I was around when he created that hurricane during the titan war," said Kayla, one of Will's half-sisters.

"Nah, definitely Piper," argued Harley dreamily "She can convince anyone of anything,"

"You're just saying that because you think she's pretty," said Miranda Gardener, rolling her eyes.

"Am not!" said Harley defensively blushing bright red.

We all rolled our eyes.

"Right," said Will dragging out the 'i'.

I laughed a bit at Harley's expression.

"I think Annabeth's the strongest, I mean, she does all this fighting on the same level as everyone else in the seven and she doesn't even have extra powers other than thinking faster than us," said Miranda.

"No, Frank is, he can shape shift and he can turn into some really cool animals to help out in sticky situations," said Sarah, a daughter of Apollo.

"Hazel is, she can collapse tunnels and find things under the ground, which can help against Gaea!" Said Conner Stoll defensively.

"You're only saying that because you think she's cute," smirked Harley.

"Jason for sure, he's a son of Zeus! He's gotta be the strongest," argued Travis Stoll over Conner's retort.

There were many loud protests over this but Nyssa noticed something,

"What about Leo?" she asked.

They all looked at her like she had lost her marbles.

"What about Leo?" asked Miranda finally.

"I think _he's_ the strongest hero," said Nyssa seriously.

Will raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why do you think that?" he asked looking genuinely interested.

As his sister, she had gotten to know Leo very well and knew from accidentally overhearing Leo talk in his sleep certain things no one knew about him.

"Can I trust you not to tell anyone about what I am about to tell you? I shouldn't even know this," Said Nyssa looking at each face individually

They looked worriedly at each other,

'_What was so horrible that they couldn't tell anyone about it?'_ thought Travis _'What don't we know about him?'_

"You must swear on the Styx you will never mention this ever again to a single soul, living dead or otherwise," She said.

Once they all had sworn on the river Styx Thunder rolled across the sky.

Nyssa took a deep, calming breath and began.

"He lost his mother in a machine shop fire that he blames him-self for, for some reason. He can control fire, which is one of the most dangerous and unpredictable of the elements; he's brave enough to put a smile on his face and make joke after joke even though he is probably very unhappy, from what I could gather, he was very close to his mother. Look over there; see how Percy and Annabeth are making out-"

She said pointing down towards the beach where the Seven were hanging out.

"Not something I ever want to see again," said Conner Stoll shielding his eyes

Nyssa rolled her eyes

"Stop being Childish, Conner," scolded Miranda

Nyssa smiled her thanks to the daughter of Demeter

"Like I was saying," continued Nyssa "Percy and Annabeth are making out, Jason and Piper are taking a walk along the beach and making eyes at each other, and Frank and Hazel are talking together and being all couple-like, and where is Leo?"

The group looked around until _finally_ they saw Leo standing near the water, a little ways away from the couples.

He was sitting in the sand holding a blueprint and trying to think through it, he was wearing look very unlike him, at least to people who looked at him only when he was aware you were.

He seemed to get more frustrated every passing second, until he finally threw his pencil into the sand and seemed to talk to him-self before picking up the pencil and trying again.

When Hazel finally seemed to come out of her Frank induced stupor she looked up and asked Leo what he was doing without much sincerity.

He seemed to relax his face; he took a deep breath, plastered the normal silly Leo look on his face and grinned at her.

He gave a smart remark that caused Hazel and Frank to laugh then go back to what they were doing.

Leo stopped grinning.

The small group of demigods listening to Nyssa turned back around.

"Anyone who can go through that daily from everyone they know and still have the courage to smile is strong in my book, so what does that say about Leo?" Nyssa asked

Then leaving them to ponder this, Nyssa turned and went back to the forges.

She had done enough observing for today.

But people knew that Leo was strong.

So today, she had accomplished more than she knew.

**Yep, my depressing feels have resurfaced, so sad, my happyish streak only lasted for the week I wrote Chapter 17 of Things I'll Never Say.**

**I just realized, this is my FIRST Oneshot AND I added enough detail :D Whoo!**

**Anyways, Shadowhunter Pride and Malec Forever (I was spoiled, but for me page 511 does not exist, I am still in denial) but yeah anyways,**

**Dooka out! :P**


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